[Maddy]

Hi guys! Had a very long day yesterday with family. Trained in the morning. I did delts and some mobility. My training is all over the place while I’m away here. Then drive to Dubai and saw an art exhibition at Dubai Arte centre. Then lunch at hurricane grill. HUGE servings and then my cousin insisted we go to a club at the Arts Club. I’m not a drinker or partier but I rarely get to spend time with my cousin as he lives here in Abu Dhabi. Got back very late and had a massive lie in.

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[Maddy]

Hiya Ziad, Jordan is very right! It you’re actually feeling discomfort while leg pressing and your ROM isn’t crazy, have a think about mobility for ankles and hips. If you experience no pain then you’re good! If your legs are still growing then continue being consistent 👍🏼

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[Maddy]

Hi guys! I’m losing track of the days here but yesterday I had a lovely day with family, breakfast with my nana, trained hams and a little glutes at Cobra fitness. These training sessions aren’t like my usual intensity, volume or exercise selection. My back/si joints are pretty bad and I’m not in a place right now with my usual routine and recovery. Had a lovely evening tea with the family at the Emirates Palace too. Then stayed up very late to get on top of responses to clients and check ins.

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[Maddy]

Good evening guys. I trained a little yesterday (full body with literally 2rir) it was veeeeery nice to move around a little. Today has been a rest day spending time with family and trying to squeeze in work where I can! Tomorrow is a pretty full on day with family as well as my biggest check in day so I’ll likely be up late to get it all done!

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[Maddy]

Heya Hunter! Both are great options. At this point I’d flip a coin and do a block with the first option and then try the other and see if you gain any further personal opinion 👍🏼

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[Maddy]

Hiya Peter, I agree with Jordan! Complete proteins over tracking in any incidental protein from carbs and fats! If your protein goal is slightly over due to incidentals just make sure you’re achieving your goal protein intake in each meal from protein sources 👍🏼

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[Maddy]

After an absolutely horrific day of travel I’m finally situated and at home/my aunties in Abu Dhabi. The flight ended up getting canceled and then I was pretty much up for the rest of the evening in the airport till the flight the next day at 7am and then it was around 8-9 hours of travel to finally get to Abu Dhabi for dinner time. My SI Joints are so mad at me for all the sitting but I’ve finally had a couple hours sleep and feel a bit more human. Hopefully I’ll train a little today as moving will help so much

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[Maddy]

Hello hello happy Sunday! Up and out for a walk and then breakfast. Did a lot of last minute house chores and some client programming/check ins and then packed for a week away. Just at the gate waiting for boarding. I’ll be I. Abu Dhabi for a week visiting family. Routine will likely be the same with some family time in between. Ready for a packed flight and I can’t lie I’m dreading it but I’m sure time will pass playing animal crossing 👍🏼

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[Maddy]

Hiya Eduardo! I use an Apple Watch too and find it to be fairly accurate!

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[Maddy]

Hello hello! Really fab Saturday today! Had a little lie in and then out for a short walk to Sainsbury’s. Trained with my lovely lovely client Kerry today! She drove all the way down to kings for a leg session and in person check in before her very first show! She’s 2 weeks out and will undoubtably bring her absolute best! I’m so very excited to see her Grace the stage 💃🏽 she also got me some chocolate coated custard creams. (M&S Iykyk) absolutely banging. Out with Louis for Georgian food again because it was so good the first time and then finally home to chill and watch a little more of the US open and update programs ahead of clients training sessions tomorrow. Ready for bed!

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[Maddy]

Hello hello, a slightly less stressful day has been had. Up, short walk, breakfast and straight into work. Headed in to the gym however I’m training full legs with a client tomorrow and usually I’d swap sessions round to accommodate for this (hams and glutes today, full leg tomorrow) but I’m still feeling a little sore in my hamstrings. Opted to adjust and hit delts and some pump sets for quads, glutes and hams just to get some blood moving around. Back home for training analysis and packing some MAD orders and then tackling another month of accounts. Hopefully a lie in tomorrow and then training with my lovely client

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[Maddy]

Hi Kyle! I agree with everything the guys have mentioned above! Recovery is super important and while you might not want to pull back because things are going so well, it may be smart to adjust now so bigger problems aren’t created later! Out of recent experience (for myself) pushing along regardless of what seems to be a ‘niggle’ right now just isn’t worth it!

Defo assess training too, have a look at how many working sets you do for legs and how you spread the volume across both lower days. Might it be a little too much right now? Knee sleeves are fantastic and I agree with Clare mentioning neoprene!

Let us know how you get on 👍🏼

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[Maddy]

Hi guys feeling a little swamped with work but just trying to tell myself to tick off tasks each day and soon enough I’ll feel on top again. Up and out for a walk and breakfast and then straight into check ins. After that it was pretty much a mix of super boring work stuff like invoicing and not realising my accounts for MAD are due by the end of September. So that’s another thing I have to do (I do all the bookkeeping and I’m a year behind) recovery hasn’t been the best and honestly I’m attributing it to stress. I fly to Abu Dhabi on Sunday and I’m trying my best to get things in a good place before I go for a week. I’ll still be working but won’t have usual things to hand (documents ect) and have deadlines for the end of the month looming. I’m going to stop talking and thinking about work and just go to bed now ✌🏼

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[Maddy]

Hi guys! Another busy day! Up and out for a walk and breakfast and then straight into work. Final amendments to an edit and handing it over and then some pretty boring admin. In for hams and glutes today and then to my grandmas for tea and a chat! Then back home to finish off for the day. Ready for bed and a full on day tomorrow

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[Maddy]

Hiya Antonio, Sorry to hear you’ve been injured and hopefully your more recent injuries aren’t causing you too much trouble.

A few things to address here. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with ribcage flare or arching your back for pressing movements such as chest press, incline press or shoulder press. As long as you are arching the correct part of your back. Your UPPER back not the lower.

To set up for flat press (or incline) you are totally correct in thinking of the cue to ‘keep your chest proud’ shoulders back and in result you should have some ribcage flare. This is totally fine as long as you are focusing on arching your upper back to achieve this.

To set up for shoulder press or military press (seated I assume) it’s the same deal however the focus of you arching your upper back shouldn’t be too emphasised as you’ll likely use more chest than delt to press the weight up. Particularly for shoulder press or military press, I’d think about leg drive too. It sounds to me as you may be arching your lower back (which can result in injury) but also not supporting the load from the ground up (through your legs and using leg drive to press) and perhaps not bracing with the wight effectively.

Ribcage flare is only something I truly feel the need to address for squat patterns or if it’s causing pain, not so much with pressing. I think the main things to address here are what I mentioned above; how you’re arching your back and how you are supporting the weight (through legs and effective bracing)

If you have any videos of pressing movement you usually perform, if you’re able to upload it to the app, or via we transfer we can have a look and provide move specific feedback. 👍🏼

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